[thechat] Mac question

[isaac]

> Here's the basic thing:
> Macs handle files a little more intelligently.

I disagree. They handle files *differently*. An operating system that did it
intelligently would probably be a mixture of the two. You'd have a default
mapping, optional individual mappings, and you wouldn't have applications
refusing to even try opening a file because it wasn't the "owner" of the
file.

Often the mac guys here in the office get files that will refuse to open in
*anything*. Without a third party application/plug-in like Snitch, none of
them (and they are long-time mac users) know how to change the status of
their file to open in any application. Even raw text files sometimes refuse
to open in SimpleText.

In Windows, the default for a file opened by a double-click is to open
within the registered application. You're right -- it's the same across
files with that extension.

But it's also easy for me to right-click an HTML file, and choose "Edit with
ColdFusion Studio", or "Open With: Internet Explorer, Microsoft Word, Choose
program...". (Within Choose program, I can set whichever application to be
the default too).

It's also easy for me to drag the icon directly to the application with
which I'd like the file to open. In the example I mentioned on the mac,
often a raw text file will "not allow itself" to be dragged to SimpleText.

> The way I do the changing is with a Contextual Menu plugin
> called More File Info - drop it into a closed System Folder and
> it'll get put in the right place. Then when you Control-Click
> on a data file, it will allow you to see the current Filetype
> and change it.

Is that a standard inclusion with all macs? No one here has heard of it.



isaac